


An Emperor's birthday (and a phone call that turned his world upside down)

by EmperorChris



Series: Sleuthing Trickster AU [4]
Category: Persona 4, Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, F/M, Fluff, Gen, I'm sorry Kanji, Ren is Naoto and Kanji's son, Sad Ending, happy birthday Kanji
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-19
Updated: 2021-01-19
Packaged: 2021-03-18 05:33:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 905
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28861848
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmperorChris/pseuds/EmperorChris
Summary: Kanji's birthday this year is full of surprises(Part of the Sleuthing Trickster AU)
Relationships: (implied)Hanamura Yosuke/Satonaka Chie, Shirogane Naoto/Tatsumi Kanji
Series: Sleuthing Trickster AU [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1958041
Kudos: 17





	An Emperor's birthday (and a phone call that turned his world upside down)

**Author's Note:**

> My angsty brain actually came up with this

When Kanji woke up, he knew it was a day to look forward to. Not only was it his birthday, Naoto was supposed to come back home today from the case she had been working on for months. All of his friends were able to make time as well and since Ren was also free, that meant he got to spend his birthday with his whole family, which had been a rare occasion in the past years.   
  
Once Kanji got dressed, he gave a small prayer to the small memorial of his mother, who had unfortunately passed away almost 7 years ago, he set up in the living room. After he was done with his prayer there was a light but sweet scent he felt coming from the kitchen. 

Feeling his stomach grumble, Kanji entered the dining room and froze at the sight before him. Ren sat at the table presumably waiting for him to enter, on said table there was a cake with a small lit up candle on top.

“Good morning and happy birthday, father.” Ren smiled at him.

“Mornin’...” was the only thing Kanji managed to mumble out as he continued looking at the cake in awe.

“D-did you make that one all by yourself?” Kanji asked as he sat down.

“I did.” Ren answered while fiddling with his bangs to hide his modest blush.

“A-anyways, shall we eat?” Ren gestured towards the cake.

“You sure you don’t wanna keep it for the party?” Kanji asked back.

“You and I both know how insistent mother is about making the cake for parties.” Ren chuckled.

“Ha! Fair enough. Can’t believe I’m gettin’ a cake from both my son  _ and _ wife. I’m gonna get diabetes at this rate. Then again, you are cute enough to give me diabetes without feeding me anythin’.” Kanji bluntly complimented his son.

“P-please stop saying that, father.” Ren looked away with an embarrassed blush.

“What? But it’s true!” Kanji countered with a chuckle.

“Could you please just blow out the candle so we can start eating?” Ren tried to steer away from the conversation.

After a short laughter, Kanji blew out the candle and the two of them got themselves a slice each. When Kanji took the first bite out of his slice, he froze.

“Father? Is everything alright?” Ren slightly panicked.

“I… I’m just at a loss for words, kid. Jus’ know that I’m really proud of ya.” Kanji wiped away a small tear that formed from a nostalgic taste in his mouth.

“You used her recipe, didn’t ya?” Kanji asked his son.

“I did. It was written down quite nicely.” Ren answered with a reminiscing look.

“I’m sure she’d be proud of ya too. Ya got the taste down to a T.” Kanji praised him.

“Thank you. But I would not have been able to do it, had I not had two amazing teachers in the kitchen.” Ren praised back.

“Sheesh, Ren. Cut yerself some slack for once, kid! Thanks.” Kanji said with a slight blush after slapping Ren on the back.

* * *

  
  


The party was about to start and some of the guests had already arrived.

“It’s already gettin’ dark, huh? Maybe he shouldn’t have gone out…” Kanji mumbled.

“What’s wrong, Kanji?” Yosuke asked.

“S’nothin’. Jus’ a bit worried about Ren.” Kanji clarified.

“Really? Where is he anyways?” Yosuke looked around not seeing a single trace of his nephew.

“We ran out of coffee and Ren volunteered to get some from that place in Okina. Considerin’ how dark it’s gettin’ already, maybe I shouldn’t have let him go out like that.” Kanji explained.

“You worry too much, Kanji. Even if someone did attack RenRen in the dark, he would take that guy down easily. I trained him for that after all.” Chie proudly huffed.

“I don’t think that’s exactly reassuring.” Yosuke sighed and ignored his wife’s glare.

“I do agree though that you’re worrying a bit too much about him. He might be still a kid but he’s not exactly a toddler. Heck, he’ll take on his very first case soon, right?” Yosuke pointed out.

“Yeah… Guess I really am gettin’ old. It’s a bit hard to accept that my boy’s growin’ up.” Kanji sighed.

“Now that’s the spirit, old man!” Rise entered the conversation in a teasing tone.

“Shut it! You’re older than me, ya hag!” Kanji countered.

“Hmph! I guess you are becoming a grumpy old grandpa then!” Rise pouted.

“Me... a grandpa?” Kanji looked into the void with wide eyes, interpreting Rise’s insult in a completely different way.

Ren is becoming an adult real soon after all. Next thing he’ll know, he’s already having a grandch-

The sudden ringing of the telephone in the living room snapped Kanji out of his thoughts.

“Could you get that, Sweetheart?” Naoto asked from the kitchen, where she was still working on the food.

“Yeah, I got it.” he answered before walking towards the phone.

“Hello? Shirogane-Tatsumi Residence here.” Kanji said as he picked up.

Everyone’s attention was directed towards Kanji when they heard something dropping to the floor. 

“Kanji, what’s wrong?” Yu asked worriedly.

When he looked at his friend, he was standing still, the phone in his hand having dropped to the floor. Shock written all over his pale face.

“Kanji, what happened?” Naoto ran up to her husband. He however didn’t respond, still processing the information he had been told.

His son had been arrested.

**Author's Note:**

> Gee, I wonder what that ending is leading up to 🤔  
> I am so sorry but I just couldn't resist  
> Happy Birthday Kanji, you seriously don't deserve this.  
> Writing the fluff was as always pretty fun and I think I did a good job of expanding the lore of the main fic a bit.  
> I hope I'll get into my groove for writing again for the main fic, but right now it's not there, so I am once again sorry for the huge intervals in-between chapters.  
> As always, I hope you guys enjoyed reading this fic as much as I had writing it and I'll see you guys next time :)


End file.
